Shadow governors belonging to the Taliban operate in all of Afghanistan’s provinces and are particularly strong in the southern parts of the country where the Afghan government has little to no control.

In that attack, 10 Taliban fighters, with the help of defectors from the Afghan military base, infiltrated the installation by claiming they were bringing in wounded soldiers for treatment and started firing on unarmed troops and officers. The attack lasted for hours. Two fighters blew themselves up, seven died in the assault and Afghan authorities detained one.

Since President Barack Obama’s withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, the Pakistan-backed Taliban has made steady strides forward in retaking much of the territory it had lost to the Afghan regime in northern Kunduz and in the Helmand province, one of the most brutal battlefields between the Taliban and U.S. troops.

Approximately 6,700 Afghan servicemembers died fighting the Taliban in 2016.

Jonah Bennett

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